What’s the worst thing that can happen in an examination hall?

Had he been reported by a bunch of girls, the authorities would have believed them and none of their fears would have materialised in reality.

What is the worst thing that can happen to you in an examination hall?

That you are caught cheating? Or, that you prepared for the wrong exam?

No. Of course those things are pretty bad, but the worst thing that can happen to you in an examination hall is to be sexually harassed by the invigilator.

Picture this: you are busy thinking about some weird biology term or phenomenon that could ruin your grade if you jumble it up.

You are drenched in sweat because the fans are out of order. The windows are broken so the sunlight pierces through and hits your eyes, making it difficult for you to see properly. And this is made worse by your glasses reflecting those rays across the room.

The invigilators seem least bothered about starting the exam on time as they munch on their samosas.

When the paper finally does begin, you see the reptilian male invigilator walking past the first row of girls touching their shoulders and arms. He seems so weak yet so powerful in the hall.

The man touches almost every girl (except the skinny ones and the short ones).

You see some girls repelling and crying softly, some stay quiet as if struck by lightning because they fear that he might accuse them of cheating, and they would miss a whole year.

So passionate about getting into a medical college, some don’t even react.

Unfortunately, my sister was in that ill fated hall. When she came home she narrated the whole story and shared her feelings and fears:

“Apa, my heart was pounding so hard that I almost felt it was going to rip my chest as if it wanted to come out and shout. But I didn’t let him do anything. I showed him my furious eyes. So he made a disgusted frown and moved on to the other row.”

But, one person can’t do much in such situations, except protect oneself.

The girls didn’t complain to the authorities after the exam because they feared backlash from society as well as the college they belonged to, if this became news and brought a bad name to the institution.

Instead, they went home silently, deciding to keep whatever happened, a secret.

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of The Express Tribune.

Fahad Raza

That’s the worst thing yea..
Something to share When I was giving a prep exam at my coaching center years back . I witnessed the same thing as the girls were sitting and doin the paper.. an an invigilator started asking weird questions to the girl doin paper a row from mine… Me an my friend ignored once, twice, thrice.. then all of us started telling him off the girl…he said you guys better do the paper or you be thrown off. Guess what we were.
Then as it was just a prep test and number didn’t matter that time and we were to say good by to that coaching center, so we gave the invigilator a “farewell party”. :D Every student in the building took part enthusiastically Good old days..
Here’s one suggestion yell out loud at the invigilator if caught up in such situation.. nothing will go wrong in fact you get sympathy and someone will be on you side. Once you clobbered the oppressor you paper will defiantly for well as you will have confidence and courage to handle tougher “written” situation. Recommend

http://think-islam.blogspot.com PostMan

Where is the machete when one needs it?

Kindly provide the name of the center and ET, do us a favour please. Can you ensure that this news reaches the concerned higher ups? Recommend

@sassi and et…name and shame or at least provide a link to the original blog where the man can be named and shamed…..this is important…disgusting behaviour.Recommend

http://www.tanzeel.wordpress.com Tanzeel

@ rk singh

True, Like India, Pakistanis should also practice of aborting female fetuses.Recommend

Furqan Ahmad

And still we question why is it necessary to separate girls’ schools and colleges from boys’. It’s so funny that we keep on provoking the nature of men, when we have been specifically told by ALLAH s.w.t. not to, and when it finally happens we start complaining about it. You want to live in the jungle without adopting necessary safety measures advised by your LORD and then you hope that wont get hurt.Recommend

san

Same thing goes to female invigilators in Peshawar University, they even don’t spare females and continuously sexually harassing students. Donot know what kind of female category they belongs to but it’s very disturbing. Recommend

Disco Molvi

@Furqan Ahmed:
“Provoking the nature of men”???
Condemn the perpetrator, not the victim please.
Since you’ve brought in Religion, let me say that Holy Quran before addressing women, first addresses and advises Men to have ‘self control‘ and be ‘modest‘ in the following verse 30 of Surah e Nur.

“Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do.”

Also there is the well known example of self control shown by Prophet Yusuf (A.S) when the wife of his owner Zulekha tried to seduce him. Didn’t she provoked his nature too then?Recommend

Courage and “on time strong reaction” – only solution to such incidents.Recommend

Zohra

DISGUSTING! Is education really limited to marks and years or it goes beyond that? Does it need to teach us self respect and standing up for ourselves or allowing the morons out there to play with our existence?

I am confident that every girl out there understands that self respect is way more important than losing one year of education and living with guilt and emotional problems. After all we have to live with ourselves every moment of our life so why not live with dignity and honor. So please come out of the fear of the so-called standards of our society and do what is right for you and understand that we cannot sacrifice our existence for the sake of marks and years of education and give our lives to the hands of people who don’t mean anything to us. Don’t forget that ZULM SEHNE WALA BHI UTNA HI MUJRIM HAI JITNA K ZULM KARNE WALA. And I know that non of us want to be in the category of those morons.

It is vital to understand that if we don’t stand up for ourselves at the right time we will experience such things happening in our society all the time. So let’s act today and make our society a safer place for the generations(GIRLS) of tomorrow. Recommend

ABC

Rk Singh: Just because you haven’t read anything of this type happening in India (or ignored it) doesn’t means it hasn’t occurred. Recommend

@Furqan Ahmad: In 2008, Abul Komsan an Egyptian Women Rights Organisation did a survey where they found that 72.5% of victims surveyed were wearing hijab when they were sexually harassed. It happens to all women, even ones that are in full niqab, under several layers of cloth. Does Hijab also provoke men? Please stop giving lame excuses for this evil. calling, it degrades women further.

As @DiscoMauvi mentioned “Condemn the perpetrator, not the victim”
We need to do more not only to speak out against sexual harassment, but to come together and firmly affirm that it is a CRIME, against humanity and against Islam.Together we need to BREAK THE CULTURE OF SILENCE and upset the status quo!!!Recommend

sab

i dont know when we will get rid of this conservative and male chauvinistic societyy…this is just so heart wrecking!!Recommend

Sassi Bhutto

@Zahir Khan:
It did not happen in SZABIST. SZABIST is a wonderful Institute. It happened in some college near zamzama. Recommend

http://bakedsunshine.wordpress.com/ Shumaila

Silence is the worst, absolutely worst way possible to deal with an issue like this. Women (and girls) need to be confident enough to speak out about harassment. Recommend

Tooba

I completely agree that the harassed should speak up in ANY way possible against the harasser. Like your sister did, for an example, by giving him a furious look. Just staying quite and meek about it wont help anyone. Recommend

Ayesha

@Nighat Yes can be worse. In Kuwait an Arab asked my uncle “how much for your daughter” in front of her ! As if she was a piece of meat. This man was middle aged and asking for a 19 year old ! Did he think Pakistanis have no pride or self-respect. My uncle would have killed him, but if hit an Arab there would have been terrible consequences. You have to be silent and bear the humiliation.Recommend

Maria

@Furqan Ahmad:

till where and until when? please do not twist the religion for your own sake! i agree that Islam sees the comfort of women by giving them hijab and the protection of staying inside houses. the kind of comfort which has great wisdom in it. but it also allows them to work. with examples such as that of Hazrat Khadija, we of all the people should be aware that women are the most empowered in our religion. my own pathan friend got four distinctions in alevels. her parents got her married in her olevels. after which her husband tolerated for a while but then later forbade her to continue studying in a university where men taught. and now she is nothing more than a housewife. not that being a housewife isn’t a great job. why, its the greatest in this world as it shapes generations! but a girl of her caliber should have been allowed to do more. its the female population that takes a country forward. imagine half a country sleeping. thats what our state is suffering from currently! the purpose of this article was to bring in limelight harassment occurring in the most awkward of places. and to beware women of course. the person should definitely be reported!Recommend

umair

i wish this invigilator once to come and supervise an examination hall in punjab and then CM just get acknowledged of it …. Wooow i can only imagine this……Recommend

Maria

@rk singh:

when you say pl do not mix unrelated issues. id say right back at you dude! the article calls for a war against harassment. not for us to open up closed chapters!Recommend

Mirza

Infact, we are living in a male dominated society. The raised slogans of freedom of woman and women rights are only up to the political or interest motives. But when it comes to the implementation no one seriously takes it. Recently, I have watched a program by Kamran Shahid at express news that in some credible institutions lecturers and professors were harrasing their female students. What’s the solution? More than 90 percent of our population is conservative in this regard, some would say to ban co-education system (not a viable option), some would restrict their female kids (a destructive move if it happens). Some corners say that women should keep silent and don’t make it public. Two reasons: our society doesn’t accept it, and ultimately blame a woman just like a separation case of a couple. Hardly anyone blame the male partner (Husband), people starts murmuring about the character of a woman like they are buttering the bread. Second illiteracy, I was of the view that illiteracy is the root cause of all the pitfalls in our society, but i am very surprised that to get literate, society has to face more catastrophic consequences first.

As Tzu says, if you have to plan for 1 year, grow rice, if you have to plan for 10 years, grow trees but if you have to plan for the next 100 years educate your children. But can somebody ask Tzu from where to educate? Education institutions are responsible to give a nation with moral values and build characters but if these institutions fail as the case it is, then I am right to say that our country is in a state of chaos.

We have seen so many incidences not only of sexual harrassment but of many types which are being caused by the frustration. Our society is frustrated and the reason being is the substandard educational institutions, particularly in terms of character building. Recommend

Javed

@rk singh: Yeah yeah; don’t let me start for India now. We all know how peaceful and secure India is for women.Recommend

Furqan Ahmad

@Nighat
My dear sister i practically LIVE in middle east and believe me when i say they have their women a lot secured and respected over here than in Pakistan. Your opinion is based on the results of some survey whereas mine is based on practical experience. If you visit middle east someday, and i hope you do, the first thing you will notice about them is that they observe a strict hijab. You wont find males and females mixing up here like in Pakistan. This is considered very odd over here. There are only very rare cases where male teachers are appointed in girls’ educational centers. And this is exactly why we never hear of such incidents over here. And about these surveys, take my advice, dont establish your judgements on their results. Surveys in Pakistan show Imran Khan is the most popular leader but still he cant win even a considerable number of seats in NA.
And please clear this misconception from your mind that you can call any na-mahram your father or brother and he will start taking you as it is. Why you yourselves make a fool out of yourselves? I hope you have watched Kamran Shahid’s Front Line on sexual harassment in educational institutes. Can you still even think of them as your fathers after that?? This term was created solely to show ppl the respect of a teacher and you started to take it literally.
I’m accusing the girls here because they commit the mistake of provoking men in the first place. If by “Provoking Men” you understood flirting than again you are wrong. Men are not provoked only when they are flirted with. Believe me It even works for them when they hear your voice. Still wondering why ALLAH s.w.t. told you not to raise your voices in you houses?? I’m not defending the men here for this but just trying to make you understand that you are committing the mistake, unknowingly, in the first place. If you keep on playing with the fire,eventually its gonna burn you. Than you can’t blame the fire or can you? Burning you is its nature and that’s what it will do even if you call it your best buddy. Feeling attraction towards opposite sex is a man’s nature. Some men have control over it some don’t. And when you come across with the later type, you have to be careful. Men’s MANUFACTURER is telling you “I have made me like this so you have to adopt some safety measures before them or you might get hurt”. But you don’t want to observe those safety measures and still insist that you shouldn’t get hurt. Well my sister, that’s not how it works.Go with the directions of the MANUFACTURER or don’t complain afterwards :)

EVen if nobody said anything then, you can definetly do something now. It should not be very dificult to trace the disgusted man and lodge a formal complain against him. Even if nothing happens legally, at least campaign with the school to get this guy banned from invililating so that no more young girls have to bear this creep.Recommend

Juned Ali Shah

I think this shameful act is performed everywhere in the world, and women/girls are being harassed at all levels of academic and professional life stages. What do i say is that, “The person’s biggest enemy or friend is person thyself” so you yourself have to raise voice against of any misbehavior or injustice. Help comes automatically from Almighty Allah and society too, but you have to be BRAVE.Recommend

Furqan Ahmad

@Maria
I totally agree with every single word you wrote.
Now can you please tell me where did i twist the religion for my purpose?? Doesn’t Islam tell you to observe hijab and restrain from mixing up with the na-mahrams?? I don’t think I have quoted anything else than this.
The friend you have referred to definitely needs to work if she has that potential. But at the same time her husband has also done the right thing if he cant find a place for her to work where she doesn’t come accross with other men. This is unfortunately not possible in Pakistan for the time being. And this is exactly what i’m talking about. We should have schools, colleges, hospitals, offices etc. separate for men and women. So that you can work and interact with each other without worrying about men and their behaviors.Recommend

Bhutto

I had also heard so many issues like that, teachers used to black male female students and harass them sexually if the innocent girls disagree on the offers then teachers used to make them fail in their exams and in their viva and girls suffer alot in making their career… this shameful act is very common at schools, colleges, universities and even a lot in coaching centers.Recommend

Syed Qalb-e-Abbas

I completely agree with you Furqan …

There is wisdom in our religion and in Allah’s words, and somehow we fail to comprehend it knowingly or unknowingly…Recommend

Jibran Nadeem

I am sorry to say…but its lack of trust in authorities which prevents these girls from reacting…the authorities are too corrupt and non serious to take action…Recommend

Ali

Ayesha: you and your uncle lived in Kuwait and amazing do not know the tradition of the country, for you information i like to tell that as per their tradition they pay amount for the marriage to the father of the girl for marriage, ordinary class to elite class all follow this tradition so you misunderstand and related this issue with Pakistan disrespect in the world. Mind it i am not appreciating the act but letting you know the fact.

Furqan AhmadP: Brother i totaly agree with your each and every word.

Saasi Bhutto: why are you silent not letting people know where it happend, you are teaching women to raise voice against such as crime but doing the same by providing details, sorry but i suspect it is a self constructed story otherwise you must present some hint e.g. examination centre, exam time and date, paper etc.Recommend

rk singh

@ ABC,

SORRY, Indian society respects women. There might be few cases of bad apples, but nothing like this. Recommend

Sana Saif

This is the strangest thing to hear…not because such a thing should happen in an exam room but because none of the girls had the courage to stop them…one frown could ward that rake away, image how a few more frowns or words would have done. Girls you seriously need to stand up for yourselves…no-one would care!Recommend

@rk singh:
Was it me or did you guys started this whole new soap-opera called “Pratigya” where the very self-righteous heroine ends up marrying a “ghunda.” Though, the soap was made to “empower women”. People who live in glass houses should not stones.Recommend

Saad Durrani

@Sassi Bhutto:
The girls should have muscle up. Collectively, they would have been able to do somethingRecommend

SK

What a shame !! seriously. What is wrong with our girls? You need to stand up for your rights..for your self respect ! Do not care about that disgusting teacher or what he is going to do. You girls should have gone to the head of college/University and talk about it. They must have taken some action against him. Be brave and confident and tell the truth. Teachers like him should die :@ Your sister and other girls who faced this problem should talk to the head/dean of that college. In fact they all should talk to their parents about it so that parents of each and every girl should go and address the issue! Recommend

Ayesha

@Ali

I perfectly know the traditions in Middle East. Does that mean a fat old ugly man can buy beautiful 19 year girl from a respectable Pakistani family ? Do you think Pakistanis will sell their daughters to some perverts ? Does blood mean anything ? A big problem in the Gulf is Arabs come to Egypt to marry young girls and after a few months divorce them.

Please do not talk to me in patronizing language and tell me to “understand” the culture of the Middle East. Sexual exploitation is a huge thing the Middle East.Recommend

http://digitaljesus.wordpress.com Anthony Permal

@Furqan Ahmad: I don’t know which Middle East you live in, but it is possible you’re stuck in some cave in Saudi Arabia.

I have lived in the Middle East most of my adult life (Saudi, Bahrain and UAE) and apart from Saudi Arabia, MOST – yes, not some – women do NOT wear the Hijab. In fact, one only needs to walk through the streets of Bahrain or UAE to see the liberation women feel and express. Women can drive openly, work in any field in any industry in any role RIGHT next to men and NOT be harassed.

However, your rant does not explain one thing: if gender segregation was the cure for all ills, why are hijabi women in Egypt the most harassed?Recommend

Salman Arshad

As Muslims we must believe that “hijab” prevents harassment (even if it doesn’t. When a hijabi is harassed, its a test of faith, so we must stick to the belief).
.
@ Author:
Were the girls wearing hijab? Its that simple.Recommend

Nishaa

Thanks for sharing this, i am hardly surprised noone reacted to it, fear is instilled in us, the fear to fight wrong that isRecommend

Batool

REPTILIAN MALE INVIGILATOR >>>>> I believe this is a lizard you’re talking about ?!Recommend

Sarfraz Salik

Sick man….Thats the problem.. we take so long to get united, an action would have taken immediately by all girls, “Silence equals to yes”Recommend

Sassi Bhutto

@Salman Arshad:
Some of them were wearing hijab. In case the next question in your mind is about them being victims too.. yesRecommend

@Furqan Ahmed:
You’ve replied to the others who addressed you, except me. Isn’t verse 30 of Surah e Nuur proof enough that it’s men first who’ve been ordered by ALLAH s.w.t to keep their “provoking nature” in check?
Why then a greater emphasis on only telling women to keep themselves in check, when ALLAH s.w.t Himself has ordered equally both men and women to keep themselves within their limits?Recommend

Salman Arshad

@Sassi Bhutto:

In that case they might have not done the hijab properly.
Hijab is through behavior too, its not just a piece of cloth.
.
You see Islam creates the environment where harassment is never triggered between men and women.
And a woman will not trigger harassment upon herself if she follows hijab properly, through her behavior.Recommend

maria

@Furqan Ahmad:
its like bhens k agey been bajana! why would Allah give us hijab if we have to interact with our mehrams alone?! and refer to disco molvi’s comment please if you haven’t already! im not anti segregated systems, in fact i like them better. but then what happened with the girl in the article can happen in segregated schools equally as well! again, till where and until when? are you going to keep suppressing your women? well then let your Lord be your judge!! pfft you twisted the point of the article rather!Recommend

@Disco Molvi…I agree with what is being said in the Quranic verse but you really think students in an examination hall might be giving suggestive looks to their invigilator and not guarding their modesty by inappropriate gestures???

Its aweful how our society is becoming disgusting by the minute!!!! Recommend

Disco Molvi

@Maham Kamal:
*

but you really think students in an
examination hall might be giving
suggestive looks to their invigilator
and not guarding their modesty by
inappropriate gestures???

*
Obviously not! That’s exactly the point I’m trying to tell Mr Furqan Ahmad, since he brought in religion to justify the immoral actions of the invigilator rather than being supportive of the victim, so I’ve quoted the Quran to him to dispel his misinformation.
No where I meant that the student’s were being suggestive or otherwise.Recommend

Furqan Ahmad

@Disco Molvi
I told you earlier why i didn’t reply to your post and i still believe in that. Plus i’m not going to indulge in arguments on Quranic Verses because i’m not a scholar. I never said men should not lower their gazes when meeting with women and its only women who should observe hijab. Why are you making assumptions on your own? I have a simple question for you. Do you lower your gazes when a SEXY lookin girl passes by you or you keep on checking her out untill she starts to look like a dot???

@Maria
If i have put forward my point of view with respect than i think you should do the same. Don’t loose your patience when arguing with some one, that’s my advice to you. I didn’t want to reply to your post and take it any further because i don’t think its worth it when the other person loses respect for the discussion. And i think the poor author of this article must already be pretty pissed of with the way this discussion has turned out. But still here are some clarifications for you and the rest of everybody.
If you think that i’m considering the invigilator an innocent person and the victim to be the culprit, well you are as wrong as one could be. The person looks a sick freak to me but what I tried to explain was one of the ways in which these kind of incidents could be prevented from happening. Yes, these kind of things can still happen if even our women start observing complete hijab but i’m sure the number will decrease considerably. I think you want me to explain the situation in layman terms so here you go. When we will have less women walking around in our markets with deep necks, skin fitted and see through shalwar qameez, i’m sure you will have less provoked men and more of them who have respect for you. When female students in colleges and schools will start covering themselves properly instead of looking more sexier than her friends, their counterparts including male students and male teachers will feel less attracted towards them and thus the chances of such incidents happening again will be reduced. And it would be even more productive if you separate the facilities for men and women. You can do whatever you like without having to worry about men. So women being covered is directly proportional to they being protected, simple mathematics.Is that so hard for us to understand??

This is my last reply. I have had enough with this. You have your own opinion, i have my own. You don’t agree with mine, too bad. Best of luck with your quest to be safe from men while giving them all the temptation in the world they need.Recommend

maria

@Furqan Ahmad:
sorry if i offended you! but i thought mine was a healthy debate:p sir, my point remains, that pathan friend who got married wore hijab. the author of this article covers her head. stand at the corner of your street and start counting. the covered women outnumber the rest. as you wouldnt wish to be compared to the culprit, the women do not wish to be stereotyped either. im just introducing another side to your story not negating you my friend because alongside that simple math formula (that deserves an applaud honestly), there is some human psychology for us to learn as well. the less the women on the streets, the more the craving will persist! and hence, the quieter their voice, the louder their screams!Recommend

Disco Molvi

@Furqan Ahmed
*

Plus i’m not going to indulge in
arguments on Quranic Verses because
i’m not a scholar

I’m not arguing over a Quranic verse, I’m providing a proof to back up my point of view. And one need not be a scholar to understand what’s written in Quran. Unlike the field of Medicine where one consults a doctor for his ailment rather than doing self diagnosis, Islam is not a profession which requires the need of scholars to make you understand what is written in Quran.

*

Do you lower your gazes when a SEXY
lookin girl passes by you or you keep
on checking her out untill she starts
to look like a dot???

*
What poor choice of words. What exactly do you mean by a SEXY lookin girl here? One can even find burqa wearing girls to SEXY lookin.
And no I do not check out women/girls the way you’ve asked, whatever attire they may be in.
Does that mean do you?
Because according to your perspective, it’s a woman’s fault if someone checks her out/ harasses her, instead of the fault of the man who indulge in such activities.
Peace out.
Happy trolling.Recommend

@Salman Arshad:
Thanks for your indifferent myopic commentsIn that case they might have not done the hijab properly.
Hijab is through behavior too, its not just a piece of cloth.
.
You see Islam creates the environment where harassment is never triggered between men and women.
And a woman will not trigger harassment upon herself if she follows hijab properly, through her behavior.
Really irritating Recommend

Norwegian Pakistani

One man was harassing so many girls in one room, and yet nobody spoke up and took any action. This tells how effed up Pakistani society is! I apologize for the bad language. But seriously, giving a man angry looks is not fighting back sexual harassment. You have to learn to speak up and stand up for yourself. Recommend

Usama

With Respect …
By these kind of Blogs u r just trying to prove that Pakistan Should be a Libral Country ….
sir its Islami Jamhuriya Pakistan …. you can remove jamhuriya from here but u cant remove “Islami”
if U ppl Want a So Called Roshan Khayal Islam
u r welcome in ny other Country Like India ……Recommend

WJ

@Zahir Khan: If you read the article carefully it is about a medical college entrance exam. I dont know how you thought SZABIST holds those or this incidence relates to that university.
@moderators: kindly read through the uncalled for mention of a respected university as done by the above.Recommend